Harry Potter and the American Black

Chapter 1 Memories

The 21 year old Auror sat gloomily at his desk finishing his overdue paperwork. He had been ready to go home over an hour ago when the sun had set, but was forced to stay due to the fact that his work was behind. He ran his hand through his already untidy, black hair, frustrated with himself for not doing his paperwork on time. He stared, with his amazing green eyes he had inherited from his mother, at the paper, wishing that he could us magic to complete his work. Though he was a wizard, he and the other Aurors couldn't use magic to do the time consuming paperwork.

Just as he finished with the huge file he stood, to stretch, looking over into the next identical cubical, where a bushy brown haired, brown eyed girl sat working on a file of paperwork. She was the only Auror never behind on paperwork and had new mission every time you turned around, literally.

"Hermione, what are you still doing here? I thought you went home at five."

"No, I didn't leave, Harry. I'm working on a new case to catch Nott. He's been a lot more active than the other deatheaters." Hermione answered not taking her eyes off the paper she was reading.

"Potter!"

Not again, there's the boss trying to give me another assignment when I haven't finished the paperwork for the last four.

"Potter" came James Kings', to loud, voice, again.

"Coming" Harry answered not real trilled, but he walked out of his cubical and down to Kings' office.

Kings' office had one word to describe it - huge. Unlike the cubicles there was room for everything. None of the filing cabinets look as if they were bigger and the desk didn't look like it had to be shoved in there. It looked like it should be the Minister's office instead of just the Auror's department head's office.

"You know why your, the fuck, in here, right Potter?" Kings asked sitting to face Harry.

"My paperwork's behind." Harry responded.

"That and I have a new mission for ya. First off, Granger and Weasley can take over your overdue shit, 'cause you can't seem to do it your self. Second go home and pack any shit that you think you stinking ass need. Plus get a good night's sleep so you can go to the damn U.S. tomorrow, who needs the fucking Americans, anyway?" Kings said with the last part in an undertone.

"Huh?" Potter said, due to the fact that he wasn't listening to his boss, but then who does, because he was happy about no more paperwork, tonight.

"You get to go to America to find a guy trying to take over like He - who - should - not - be - fucking - named is here."

"Why can't the American Aurors take care of this?"

"Well . . . the damn Americans can't do anything by them fucking selves, they always have to go crying to some other damn person, and this time they've come fucking crying to us. And their top three fucking Aurors have gone missing on this case." Kings said his voice raising just a little more (o.k. I admit it was raised way more).

"How am I gettin' there?" Harry asked trying to get his boss to calm down.

"Be floo powder, I guess. You're going to Salem Alley in Salem, Massachusetts. Where you'll meet a fucking American Auror named . . .,"Kings was saying as he opened a file looking for the name. "Ahh . . . You'll meet this guy named Jason Brooks. He's the Auror that'll show you around and be your assistant if you ever need anything. Any other questions before you leave?"

"No, not really." Harry said.

"Okay, then be at the department of magical transport-floo network section tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp. Here's everything that you need to know," Kings said handing a rather large file. "Everything you need to know is in there. Now send in Granger on your way out. Oh and take a good fucking look around so as incase you have to go back and round up this jerk's followers, if he has any," Kings finished. Harry knew that it was his queue to leave. He walked out the door and down the hall to Hermione's cubical.

"Boss wants you," Harry said standing in the door of Hermione's cubical.

"Why?" Hermione asked, standing to face Harry.

"Needs to talk to you." Harry answered with a shrug.

"Did he give you a mission?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I have to do your over due work, don't I!"

"You really are the smartest witch!" Harry said with fake surprise.

"Thanks a lot, Harry" Hermione practically yelled, her voice full of sarcasm.

"Your welcome," Harry answered sarcastically with a grin.

Hermione staked off, mumbling something under her breath. Harry's grin grew wider as Hermione slammed the door to Kings' office, in angry. Harry could Hermione screaming at James Kings all the way to the elevator. When she was mad, Hermione was mean and loud, and she got worse as she got older.

Harry pressed the button to the elevator, and waited silently. The elevator clunked loudly up to the floor where Harry stood, waiting. The doors open noisily letting Harry in and a few memos out. Once all the memos, that had to leave at this floor, left the doors closed noisily.

The elevator started its loud journey down to the Atrium, where it opened its doors, with much noise, letting Harry out. He walked down the hall stopping only to talk to Ernie, from the Knight Bus now the security wizard, for a moment. Then he made his way to an empty fire place, grabbing some floo powder, and stepping into the fire place.

"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London," Harry said throwing the floo powder down as green emulous flames rose warmly around Harry. He pulled off his glass, sticking them in his pocket, as he began to spin slowly at first then more quickly until the spinning stopped and Harry fell forward out of the fire place. No matter how long he uses floo powder he won't land on his feet.

This place had change a lot since he had been fixing it up for when he had a family. He began the renovation in his six year when he learned that Sirius wrote a will in the end of Harry's fourth year, after Voldemort came back. Harry had gotten a summer job to help pay for the renovation, but most of the money can from his and Sirius's bank vaults. He remembered the day so well, when he heard Sirius's will read.

Flashback

Harry sat quietly surrounded by the members of the orders and his friends. Dumbledore sat at a desk facing the people surrounding him. Everyone had a look of pure sorrow and not one person made a noise until Dumbledore cleared his throat.

"Does anyone want to say anything before I begin?" Albus asked pulling a file from a drawer, but everyone remained quiet. "Okay then, since there are no comments I will read Sirius's will. 'I am sorry that this is my way of saying good bye to all of my friends but I feel that this is a way for me to say good bye if I don't get to myself, plus you guys can't fight over my junk. First off, I, Sirius Black, leave to my best friend, Remus Lupin, a fourth of the money in my bank vault, and if it hadn't been for the whole werewolf thing he would have gotten nothing from me. Anyways enough ragging on Remus, to the entire Weasley family I leave another fourth of the money in my bank vault, because I feel bad for them for all the time they had to put up with me, especially you Molly. And lastly to my Godson, Harry, I leave the rest of the money in the vault and my house, number twelve Grimmauld Place in London, it's not much and kind of shabby, but it's all I have to give you. All the stuff in it belongs to you, Harry, please burn it all. Harry I sorry that I couldn't spend more time with you like I did with your father, you look and act so much like James, except for your eyes their your mother's eyes. And Harry please someone take care of Buckbeck for me. Harry, Remus, Dumbledore, and all the others here don't grieve over me for I'm in a better place with old friends.'"

End Flashback

A single tear fell down Harry's face as he climbed the stars to his bedroom, Sirius's old bedroom. He sat down at the end of the bed over taken with tears of sorrow. After the tears had stopped and Harry had whipped the last of fallen tears away, he stood to began to pack.

He got his duffle bag out of the closet, opened his drawers, and began to pack. He packed everything he thought he would need and as he pulled a last shirt out a picture caught in the folds fell to the ground. Harry picked up the picture and turned it over so the front was towards. When he saw who was in the picture he dropped it, with a gasp of surprise.

Once he got over the sudden shock he picked up the picture to see three faces, smiling back at him. The first grinning face was that of his father, his face was exactly like Harry's except he had green eyes unlike his father's hazel ones, and James didn't have a lighting bolt like Harry. The next face smiling face was that of his mother's, and the only hint that showed that he was her son was the same brilliant green eyes. The last beaming face was Sirius's.

Harry's eyes began once again to fill with shining tears. Slowly they fell as a sudden rush of memories came to mind.

Flashback

"You know what this means?" Black said abruptly to Harry as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," said Harry.

"Yes . . .," said Black. "But I'm also - I don't know if anyone ever told you - I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that, said Harry.

"Well . . . your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them . . ."

Harry waited. Did Black mean what he thought he meant?

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But . . . well . . . think about it. Once my name's cleared . . . if you wanted a . . . a different home . . ."

Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry's stomach.

"What - live with you?" he said, accidentally cracking his head on a bit of rock protruding from the ceiling. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to, said Black quickly. I understand, I just thought I'd -"

"Are you insane?" said Harry, his voice easily as croaky as Black's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursley! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Black turned right around to look at him: Snape's head was scraping the ceiling but Black didn't seem to care.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Harry.

Black's quant face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger were shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognizable as the man who had laughed at Harry's parent's wedding.

End Flashback

Flashback

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward through the ragged veil hanging from the arch . . .

And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, hi would reappear from the other side any second . . .

But Sirius did not reappear.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!"

He had reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out again . . .

But as he reached the ground and sprinted toward the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry -"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"It's too late, Harry -"

"We can still reach him -"

Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go . . .

"There's nothing you can do, Harry . . . nothing . . . He's gone."

"He hasn't gone!" Harry yelled.

He did not believe it, he would not believe it; still he fought Lupin with every bit of strength he had: Lupin did not understand, people hid behind that curtain, he had heard them whispering the first time he had entered the room - Sirius was hiding, simply lurking out of sight -

"SIRIUS!" he bellowed, "SIRIUS!"

"He can't come back, Harry," said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. "He can't come back, because he's d -"

"HE - IS - NOT - DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!"

There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To Harry it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter, nothing mattered except that Lupin stop pretending that Sirius, who was standing feet from them behind that old curtain, was not going to emerge at any moment, shaking back his dark hair and eager to reenter the battle -

Lupin dragged Harry away from the dais, Harry still staring at the archway, angry at Sirius now for keeping him waiting -

But some part of him realized, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had never kept him waiting before . . . Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry, to help him. ... If Sirius was not reappearing out of that archway when Harry was yelling for him as though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not come back . . . That he really was . . .

End Flashback

Harry sat down on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands while the tears flood, all because of the memories Sirius had. He couldn't help but feel that life was unfair, first he had lost his parents, and was left with few me memories, and then the same thing happened to Sirius.

The tears stopped slowly and the sadness was swept away by a wave of tiredness. Harry lay down on his bed with his clothes on, and closed his eyes. He was fast asleep with in a few moments.